สำนักงานราชบัณทิตยสภา

115  The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume IV - 2012 lies in the nature of the Lakhon. The main reason does not depend on the female or male performers as was formerly given” (Prince Damrong, 1965: 2-3). Prince Damrong concluded the explanation of Lakhon Nai and Lakhon Nok that “the term Lakhon Nai must have derived from ‘Lakhon Nang Nai’ or ‘Lakhon Khang Nai’, then it was shortened to ‘Lakhon Nai’. When there was another type of Lakhon Nai, people came to call the former drama Lakhon Nok. Thus there are two names to differentiate the type of drama (Prince Damrong, 1965: 46-47). The origin of drama performed only by women was described by Prince Damrong very interestingly. “The reason why there is a drama performed by women in Siam cannot be found related anywhere. I therefore deduce from the reason given in Tamnan Khon and Lakhon that originally, a certain king who ruled Ayutthaya (possibly before the reign of King Narai Maharaj) thought of making dancers dance according to the Vedic belief, such as being dressed like gods and goddesses and dancing to fi t in with the Ramasura story. This kind of dance was performed in a royal ceremony at the palace, the same way as the Duek Dam Ban Performance already referred to. This dance may be the origin of Lakhon Nai. That is why there has been the prologue dance of Ramasura 1 right up to the Rattanakosin period. As there has been a dance which tells a story, it has become a custom to perform a story in a royal ceremony at the palace, in the same way as the custom has developed of performing Khon Luang (Royal Masked Dance Drama) in a royal ceremony outside the palace. 2 Later on, as there was the wish to perform a dance drama telling a different story, an episode of Khon was chosen to suit the type of dancing, such as the episode of Unarud in the story of Krishnavatar. They planned the choreography and trained the female dancers to perform. As they did well, the female troupe was created from then on. The origin of dance drama performed by women can be thus explained (Prince Damrong, 1965: 15-16). The part describing I-nao , a Thai drama in verse, Prince Damrong surmises that the reason Princess Kunthon and Princess Mongkut of the Ayutthaya period composed 1 This dance depicts the demon Ramasura chasing the goddess Meghala who waves a crystal ball, which he wishes to own for himself. 2 Khon developed from the ceremonial Duek Dam Ban Performance. Panya Borisutdhi